This invention relates to electronic measurement devices and, more particularly, to a device for measuring the thermal parameters of an environment, such as the temperature of an environment or the thermal power flow to or from an environment.
Various types of electronic devices for measuring thermal parameters, such as electronic thermometers, have been developed in the past. Electronic thermometers generate electrical signals which represent the temperature of a medium being investigated, and these signals can be readily converted to a display and/or used to control a companion system.
Prior art electronic thermometers are generally found to be unduly complex and expensive or to suffer one or more of the following deficiencies: some thermometers have inadequate response time, of the order of seconds, which render them useless for some applications. Other electronic thermometer designs are found to have an output response which is undesirably non-linear with temperature. Still other suggested electronic thermometer designs require a reference temperature for comparison purposes, such a reference temperature being available in only a limited number of applications. A further problem with some prior art electronic thermometers is that their "zero setting" or their scale factor is not readily adjustable.
A further consideration as background for the present invention is that applications exist, such as in the field of biomedics, where it is desirable to have a device capable of measuring the flow of thermal power wherein the operating temperature of the measuring device itself is maintained substantially constant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide solution to the prior art problems and requirements as set forth.